GTM Strategy - an Iconoclastic View
My approach to GTM strategy has been heavily influenced by MIT Professor and Consultant Arnoldo Hax. Hax had a customer-first approach which I have learned to be right through my own successes and failures. And, Hax challenged the conventional wisdom, which I have always enjoyed doing as well! Here are ten “Haxioms” that capture the key principals of this approach:
The center of strategy is the customer.
You don’t win by beating the competition; you win by achieving customer bonding.
Strategy is not war; it is love.
A product-centric mentality is constraining; open your mindset to include the customers, the suppliers, and the complementors as your key constituencies.
Try to understand your customer deeply. Strategy is done one customer at a time.
Commodities only exist in the minds of the inept.
The foundations of strategy are two:
Customer Segmentation and Customer Value Proposition
The Firm as a Bundle of Competencies
Reject the two truisms
“The customer is always right,” and
“I know the customer needs and how to satisfy them”
The strategic planning process is a dialog among key executives of the firm - seeking consensus on the direction of the organization
Metrics are essential; experimentation is crucial
